Seasoned Tofu and Veggie Wontons

During the month of November, Hubbs and I had the amazing opportunity of running a pop-up organic, vegan cafe inside of an amazing bar called The Little Fleet in downtown Traverse City, Michigan.  It was called Koko's Cafe Pop-Up.  I worked for the owner of the bar during the summer season, running his food truck, and he decided to bring his food truck inside during the winter to be able to serve his customers delicious food and allow entrepreneurs to test the market with their new products.  We had an amazing month and feel very blessed to have been able to do that.  We had many great customers - a lot of whom cannot wait until we open our physical location.  And neither can we!  We are shooting for late spring to early summer.

At the end of the month we made a delicious homemade wonton soup stuffed with tofu, veggies and some awesome seasonings.  It sold very well and people were raving about how tasty it was.  It's something I have been making for a couple years at home.  I'm so glad people loved it the same way I do.

I can't give out the recipe since it will be used for our business, but I can say what the ingredients were (all being organic): tofu, green local cabbage, scallions, bok choy, carrots, tamari, toasted sesame oil, black pepper).  Check out the process below

One batch of many of the tasty wontons.

Close-up of the delicious filling.  Yum!

The finished wontons, before freezing

Koko

Vegan Chop't Salad

My birthday is coming up at the end of this month.  Yay!  Hubbs and I have always gone out to dinner and most times a movie afterwards to celebrate.  When we lived in NY we could go anywhere, have an amazing meal then walk over to one of the many theaters.  What a blast!  Now that we've moved to Michigan, the options are slimmer, but still great.  

Hubbs and I were talking yesterday about where we would go for my bday this year, and I'm still deciding.  You see, even though everything I put on this blog is vegan, I have not been vegan for several years.  I have been vegetarian for almost 13 years, but I haven't been vegan for a while.  So, eating out was quite easy.  Now that I have decided to be vegan again (about two weeks ago), the pickings will be slimmer, which is even more motivation for us to get our vegan cafe up and running next year!!  

Several years ago for my bday dinner we went to this place in Union Square in Manhattan where the Hubbs' cousin worked, called Chop't Creative Salad Company.  That place is awesome! They have a giant line of literally hundreds of items you can put in a salad to make it all your own.  Seriously delicious!  And a vegan salad can be made literally hundreds of different ways.  Check out their menu!  First, you start off with the size of the salad (we got the biggest size), then choose your base: romaine, iceberg, arugula, kale or mixed greens (we chose mixed greens).  And you choose from tons and tons of additions.  Then they put everything in their big bowl onto a fresh cutting board (every customers order goes onto a fresh, clean board), use these huge knives and chop away.  Once it is chopped to your desire, they put it in your bowl and send you off.  It's a bit expensive though - for two salads and two waters, it was over $25.  Thank goodness Hubbs' cousin worked there and we were able to use his discount - it ended up being about $13!

Hubbs and I raved about the salads we ate for a long time afterwards, so I decided to start making them at home, using any and everything I had in my fridge to make it even more interesting and tasty.  

Koko's Chop't Salad:

So tasty!

Place the following ingredients into a large mixing bowl:

several handfuls mixed greens
shelled edamame
diced tomato
sliced red onion
diced smoked tofu
chopped carrots
chopped cucumber
Diced cooked beets
couple tablespoons dried fruit and nuts
handful diced seitan or other vegan protein
diced apple or other fresh fruit

Add a hefty amount of vegan chipotle ranch dressing and toss together with your hands (I never bother with chopping up the salad - it's delicious as is).  That's it!  Change up the ingredients and dressing and you'll have a new salad every time!


Koko

Country Fried Seitan Sandwich with Coconut Cheddar Cheese & Organic Baked Fries

I started a new job about two weeks ago.  It is a very interesting and fun job!  I am working at a food truck downtown and having a great time with it.  It is something I have really missed about NY - working for a place that doesn't have a ton of structure and allows me to do what I need to do, but without a ton of supervision and demands.  It's a pretty cool gig.  I am still working part time as a vegan pastry chef, which is good, but doesn't include a lot of hours.  This past week I definitely made my hours, which was great.  

The place is called Ez Cheesy, which is basically a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich truck.  Pretty cool and different menu.  Obviously it is not all vegan, but all but one of the sandwiches are vegetarian and the rest can be made vegan with the inclusion of daiya.  I love that!  This is part of the menu this year:

Tampopo: Ramen Noodles mixed with Kimchee, topped with Brussel Sprouts and Cheddar/Daiya

Old Mission Torta: Smashed Beans, Avocado, Queso/Daiya, Pickled Jalapeno Peppers, Shaved Radish, Spicy Mayo

City Middle: Local Made Donut with Goat Cheese and Fig Jam (would be great with vegan cream cheese)

Sweet Caroline: Shaved Carrot, Goat Cheese, Walnuts & Honey

There are more items on the menu, but I thought I would put a couple so you could see how different and cool this place is!

Making sandwiches all week, you would think I would get tired of them, but it actually inspired me to work more on the menu for our upcoming cafe and make a couple different sandwiches at home.  I made this tasty one as well as a couple veggie paninis.  Yum!  I found a really interesting recipe for vegan cheddar cheese, using coconut milk as the base.  It's very meltable and cheesy in texture, but I really didn't care for the flavor.  I definitely think it is something that warrants more testing and playing around with.  How cool would it be if it were actually that easy to make a meltable vegan cheese?!

This was Hubby's plate.  So Good!

To make the Sandwich:

- Country Fried Seitan

 - Fresh Baguette, sliced into portions and cut in half, toasted

 - Veganaise or other topping

 - Sliced Veggies: tomato, green pepper, red onion

 - Coconut Milk Cheddar Cheese or other vegan cheese

 - Baked Fries or side of choice


1.  Toast baguette.  Slather veganaise on both sides of the bread.  Place veggies on the bottom, followed by the seitan.  Layer the cheese in there somewhere.  (I should have put it next to the seitan so it could have melted slightly.)
2.  Add fries or other side and eat!

You can barely see the vegan cheddar peeking out from underneath the veggies!

Enjoy!

Koko

Pesto Pizza Pinwheels

Hubbs and I both love pizza.  I mean, who doesn't?  We definitely love the convenience of buying out, and when we lived in Brooklyn, we bought pizza out a lot.  Most of the pizza places we frequented were just small local stores using homemade, good ingredients, so we didn't have to worry about it. I know there are places here in Michigan, but they are not as convenient to get to as we would like.  We have to get in our car and drive to get the pizza (we just walked there on the way to our house from getting off the subway in Brooklyn), and we might as well just make it ourselves - control the ingredients and use exactly what we want.  

We end up making pizza about once every week to week and a half.  This time when I made it, I decided to try something different and fun - pinwheels.  I've seen them for years, but have never made them before.  I had some extra pesto in the freezer from last summer when we had our bountiful basil crop, so decided to use that.  These turned out really good!  We dipped them in hot marinara sauce.  Yum!  My little brother came over when I was making them and hinted that they looked great.  I gave him several of them, which he promptly dipped in ranch!  He literally puts ranch on everything - even in the sauce when he makes his lasagna.  Funny kid!  These could work with any combination.  They would also be great for a party or a get together.  

 

 

 

Freshly baked pesto pizza rolls

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough (I use this recipe.  Use half for these rolls and freeze the remaining half for later.)

Pesto Sauce
Vegan Cheese

Toppings:
 - Green Peppers
 - Onions
 - Baby Spinach
 - Kalamata Olives
 - Pickled or fresh Jalapeno Peppers
 - Pignolis

Filtered water to seal the dough. 


1.  Prepare the dough according to the attached instructions. 
2.  After the dough has risen, punch it down.  Place the half you are not using in a freezer bag, label and freeze for later use. 
3.  Roll the pizza dough out into a large rectangle-ish shape on a floured surface. 

4.  Liberally spread pesto over the surface of the dough - leaving about an inch of space at the top bare.

5.  Sprinkle the vegan cheese over the surface of the pesto, followed by the veggies and other toppings, as desired.

6.  Top with baby spinach.

7.  Slowly roll the pizza into a cigar shape.  Sprinkle a little water onto the top of the pizza to help the dough seal together. 

8.  Use a sharp non-serrated knife to slice the pizza into rounds.

9.  Place the pizza rounds onto an oiled sheet tray.  At this point, you can decide to place a towel over the prepared rolls, place in a warm place and allow them to rise some more, then bake them.  Or you can put them in the oven right away at 375 degrees for about 15-22 minutes - which is what I did.

10.  Let them cool just until you are able to handle them safely.  Dip into warm marinara sauce or whatever else you like to eat with your pizza.  Depending on my mood, I may drizzle some sriracha over the top.  Yum!


Enjoy!

Koko

Vegan Spicy Cheesy Potato Patties

On Sunday I made lasagna for lunch and also a full dinner, including mashed potatoes.  Hubbs always takes the leftovers from dinner with him to work for his lunch the next day.  But since he had two choices, he of course chose lasagna (who wouldn't?).  I convinced myself that I would eat the potatoes over the next couple days, but there they have continued to sit.  We have a rule that we don't eat any cooked food 7 days after being prepared and even though it has been only 4, I knew if I didn't do something with those potatoes soon, they would get thrown out.  Hubbs and I both hate wasting food, so I decided to use them to make something tasty, if a little unusual, for breakfast this morning.  How about potato patties?  I made some when we were in Brooklyn, but with sweet potatoes.  They were amazing!  Of course "regular" potatoes would be just as delicious, so that's what I did.  And they were crazy delicious!  Super simple too since the main component was already prepared.  This came together in like 10 minutes, and was on the table within half an hour - good for the hubby since he had to be to work early.  I think this would be a nice accompaniment to a dinner also.  Super quick and tasty!

 

 

 



Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.  Yum!

 

 

 

Spicy Cheesy Potato Patties:

 

2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes

1/4 cup minced red onion

1 jalapeno, minced

1 roma tomato, seeded and minced

handful cilantro leaves, chopped

1 tablespoon ground golden flax seed

2 tablespoons superfine ground rice flour

sea salt and black pepper

unsweetened almond milk, as needed

1/2 cup shredded daiya cheese

 

 

Canola or refined coconut oil to fry

 

To Serve:

Vegan Sour Cream

Sriracha

 

 

1.  Place the potatoes and the remaining ingredients into a large mixing bowl: red onion, jalapeno, tomato, chopped cilantro, flax, brown rice flour, sea salt and black pepper.  Mix well until all the ingredients are combined.  Add enough almond milk so that the mixture is easily moldable, but not too thin.  Season to taste and add the shredded daiya.

2.  Place a layer of refined coconut oil or canola oil in the bottom of a saute pan over medium heat.  Allow the oil to become hot.

3.  In the meantime, portion the the potato mixture into small patties, setting on a clean plate until ready to begin frying.

4.  Once the oil is hot, place 3-4 of the patties carefully into the pan.  Cook for several minutes, or until crispy and browned.  Carefully flip and cook the other side for several more minutes.

5.  Remove the cooked patties from the pan and place on a paper towel lined plate. 

6.  To serve, place a spoonful of vegan sour cream on top and drizzle with sriracha. 

7.  Continue with remaining patties. 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Koko

A Passing in the Family & a Simple Vegan Meatball Sub

Today my Grandma on my father's side passed away rather suddenly.  She had been living in a nursing home for probably the last 3-4 years and my mother was taking care of her for two years before that.  She has not been in good health for many years, but did not seem to be doing too badly.  Very much a shock.  I'm very sorry to say that we were not close.  None of my siblings and I were too close with her.  I saw her about four years ago, then probably not for ten years before that.  I feel terribly for my dad and feel sad for the relationship we never were able to have with her.  My dad was able to take off three days from work for bereavement to take care of all the details - he is the oldest sibling and in charge of the details. 

 

I felt an overall sadness today, not really inspired to do too much.  I had a lot of things I should have been doing, but really never got around to them.  I spent most of the time with my dad and other siblings that stopped by to support him.  When he left to look into my Grandmother's affairs, I realized it was midway through the day and that I should eat something.  I decided on the quickest thing I could think of: a sub.  I had just bought some nice, fresh bread with the hubbs and had a package of Gimme Lean Ground Beef in the freezer for a couple months that I bought on discount at the local food coop.  I also had some homemade marinara sauce hanging out in the freezer so I knew a meatball sub would come together nicely.  Super easy and satisfying. 

 

 



Easy and delicious - before being toasted

1/2 package Gimme Lean Ground Beef, rolled into balls
olive oil

Fresh Rolls/Baguette
Marinara sauce
Vegan Sliced Cheese
Vegan Cashew Parmesan Cheese

Toppings:
Sliced Green Peppers
Sliced Onions
Fresh or Pickled Jalapeno Peppers
Sliced Dill Pickles
Kalamata or Black Olives

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2.  Cook the meatballs in a small amount of olive oil until crispy and heated through.
3.  Slice the roll/baguette in half, spoon some marinara sauce on top, followed by the meatballs, the vegan cheese(s) and the toppings.
4.  Place the loaded sub on a baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the bread is toasty and the cheese is nice and melty.
5.  Cut in half and serve with additional marinara sauce on the side for dipping.


Koko

Breaded Seitan, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Onions and Mushrooms, Green Beans

I try to cook everyday.  For at least 1-2 meals.  Sometimes I feel more excited about cooking and sometimes I feel like throwing something together.  For this meal I felt like throwing something together, but had several ingredients to use up before another grocery shopping trip with the hubby.  The meal ended up taking a while to make, but was so worth it.  So tasty and comforting!

 

 

 

Such a pretty and tasty meal!

 

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes:

2 1/2 lb. russet potatoes, peeled and large cubed

 

4 tablespoons earth balance

sea salt and black pepper to taste

unsweetened almond milk or soymilk

 

1 head garlic, top cut off

olive oil

 sea salt and black pepper

 

Sauteed Onions and Mushrooms:

1 large red onion, sliced thinly

4 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

sea salt and black pepper

1/4 cup filtered water

 

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Place the head of garlic in a small piece of aluminum foil.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper.  Close the foil tightly.  Roast for about 30 minutes, Place potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water.  Cook for about 30 minutes, or until the garlic has softened and darkened in color.  Set aside until cool enough to handle.

2.  Place the potatoes in a pot covered with cold water.  Cook until just tender. 

3.  Prepare the sauteed onion and mushrooms: place the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and mushrooms and cook for several minutes.  Add the sea salt and black pepper and cook until the mushrooms begin to release their juices.  Lower the heat and add the filtered water.  Cook until most of the water has evaporated and the mixture is very flavorful.

4.  Finish the potatoes: add the earth balance, sea salt, black pepper and prepared roasted garlic.  Mash very well.  Add the almond milk or soymilk until the desired consistency is achieved. 

5.  Serve with a veggie protein and a side. 

 

 

 

 



So delicious!

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Koko

Some Things I've Been Baking Lately

Here are lots of vegan baked goods I have been baking over the past several months. When I was compiling this collage of photos and took a step back to look at them, I was very proud of myself. I know I have been working hard on all of these goodies, it's just great to really see it all come together. And this is really why I am so obsessed with taking pictures of everything I cook or bake. It is such a great feeling to come back and look at it and say, wow I did a great job! Most of these baked goods were made at my job - a few were made at home. All of them were made with lots of love and excitement! They really make me feel happy and confident that many of them would look great in a display case of my own! Take a few minutes to look at the pictures. Let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 



Maple Syrup Sweetened Chocolate Chip Cookies
Notice one Missing?

 

 



Close-Up of Apple Crisp Cupcakes with
Salted Caramel Frosting, Drizzled with Caramel Sauce



The tray of Baked Apple Crisp Cupcakes



These are so beautiful!



Finished Tray of Cupcakes.  Gorgeous!

 

Toasted Coconut-Almond Cake with Coconut Frosting



Basket of tasty baked goods: Coconut Chocolate Chip
Cookies & GF Coconut Macaroons

 

 



Crispy Double Chocolate Cookie



Nutella Mousse Filled Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Topping



Nutella Mousse Cupcakes topped with Toasted Hazelnuts



Snickers Bundt Cake

 

 



Gluten Free Cherry Crumb Bars



A Close-Up of the Delicious Bars!



Mocha Cake with Coffee Frosting



Double Chocolate Mocha Brownies



Vegan Tiramisu Cupcakes



I mean seriously - how beautiful are these guys?



Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies before baking

 

 



Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Frosting & Raspberry Filling




Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.  So beautiful!



Beet Velvet Cupcakes

 

 



Raw Keylime Pie Mousse Cups



Pumpkin Roll Cake with Vegan
Cream Cheese Frosting



Beautiful swirls made of vegan cream cheese frosting



Pretty, pretty!



Chai Cupcakes with Spiced Frosting

 

 



Almond Joy Bundt Cake

 

 



Gluten Free, Soy Free, Raw Keylime Pie

 

Vegan birthday cake for my dad!  (Carrot Pineapple!)



Vegan Tiramisu Cups



Coconut Lime Cupcakes with Zesty Lime Frosting

 

 



So Zesty!



Gluten Free Chocolate Cookie Dough Truffles made with Chickpeas!



After portioning and freezing.






Smoothing out.



A blurry inside view of the truffle.

 

 



Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting



Topped with toasted hazelnuts



Close-up of the yummy cupcake



Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cream Pie in a Cookie Crust

 

 



Mocha Cookies with Coffee Icing

 

 



Kitchen Sink Cookie with Pretzels, Chocolate Chips, Peanut Butter
Chips and Kettle Chips

I hope you enjoyed these pretty pictures of tasty vegan baked goods!


Koko